The Law is the Law for both MP and Citizen

HH The Emir,
Sh. Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah

I do not condone, nor encourage violence of any kind, especially when it comes to politics, but what happened last night was a 'no choice' situation by all accounts. I won't go into the details, nor post any pictures, as there are many of both in today's newspapers and blogs, so it's quite easy to dig them up, especially when they're plastered all over the front pages of Kuwaiti newspapers, and even made it to the BBC!

However, according to the step-by-step account of the Alqabas newspaper, what triggered last night's attack by the Security Forces was Al Herbish's wanton disregard for HH The Emir's order pertinent to public congregations and political speeches, pure and simple! But that's not the whole story.

Two days ago, as a result of the attack on Al Juwaihel, the Emir issued an order to his Minister of Interior, Sh. Jaber Al Khalid Al Sabah to enforce the law of public gatherings by ensuring that all gatherings remain within the confines of private Diwaniyas, and not outside the homes and in public places without authorization, as stipulated under law and in accordance with the Constitution. MP Jemaan Al Herbish decided to go around this by having his home turn into one big Diwaniya, quite typical of the Bedouin way of 'outsmarting' official rules and regulations. The result was that the attendees were so many that he was forced to bring them out into the garden outside his house, and personally inviting them to do so. That's when things turned nasty, as MP Al Herbish was given an ultimatum by the Assistant Head of the Security Forces; Get back into the house withing 15 minutes or face the consequences.

Minister of Interior
Sh. Jaber Al Khaled Al Sabah

Instead of immediate compliance, MP Al Herbish decided to 'negotiate' with the Security Forces, and when his time was up, they attacked with batons and crowd gear, and all hell broke loose! Lots of immediate analysis and expressions of anger and promises of retaliation came out of the usual mouthpieces in the aftermath, like MP Musallem Al Barrak and MP Al Herbish himself, promising to question the Prime Minister and promising to push for the dissolution of Parliament and so on, and we have yet to see or hear an official Government response to these promises at this time, but suffice to say that they're quite forthcoming.

Like I said, that's not the whole story.

The affected MP's especially the ones wounded by the attack, considered the Government response to last night's events as 'unfair', in comparison to it's response with regards to the Al Juwaihel incident, wherein the Government used it's resources to seek and apprehend all his attackers, and then later on, silencing his opponents in Parliament. very neat and simple to understand, but there's one major difference.

Al Juwaihel did not break the law when he was attacked by a Mob with sticks, stones and tazer guns at a peaceful rally. One the other hand, a peaceful rally turned violent when it's organizers decided to push the boundaries of the law to see how fat they could go, until they broke the law, thereby suffering the consequences. Al Juwaihel was attacked and beaten up by a mob as he attended a so-called 'peaceful' rally, whose organizers had hidden tazer guns, while last night's events were a simple application of the rules of engagement as stipulated by Law, and as ordered by the Emir of the State. If we, his subjects, do not like this law or do not approve of it's implementation, we are authorized to change it as we see fit, also under the law, and as stipulated in the Constitution that we all 'should' believe in.

In summary, I believe that the Emir was right in publicly stating his intentions, and publicly backing his Minister of Interior for the sake of the country's security and stability. I think that a little less freedom is a small price to pay for a little more security. 

I think that this was the intended message by the Emir, to follow the law of the land, or face the consequences of breaking that law, all in accordance with the Constitution. But I guess this is a language that's as alien to some MP's as Sweet Potato Pie!